Many in the sports world often forget, but are starting to see that things are not always how they appear to be on the TV, Social Media or any news network. Sadly, sports today has become highly politicized by many and Colin Cowherd recognized this fact on his show The Herd. Having studied each recruiting network inside and out that exists in college football today, I have to come to realize that most of the players with "stars" are barely living up to the hype set forth by the heavily edited and glamorous videos which spread across the internet. We have conducted numerous updates on CollegeFootballToday.org's top nationally ranked recruits and have been able to prove our point with just the numbers alone. Our September Update on our Class of 2019 rankings, showed that cognitive dissonance does indeed exist in how viewer-centric content can warp our perception of football skill and talent. Even the legendary recruiter Coach Robert Prunty (HC Hampton) would state that he would only go after players with "stars" on Rivals.com, which is how I started my college career with the likes of Jerrell Powe, Keiland Williams,Mario Harvey,John Jerry and many other future NFL players.My first ever radio show was with Coach Prunty and you can listen while I get into what exactly college coaches, recruiters and staffs are looking for in today's college football recruits.

Every college coach has a different coaching philosophy when it comes to personnel that fits their desired schemes offensively, defensively and on special teams. For Example, a ground and pound running back might be highly sought after in the brutal SEC or Big Ten conference, but in Big-12 or Pac-12 schemes, they are often too cumbersome to maneuver like College Football Today's top rated recruit Daimarqua Foster.

​Let's take a look at the current TCU Horned Frogs roster and how they recruit outstanding football players that fit their scheme, instead of looking at how many stars a recruit has by his name.

TCU uses a spread formation attack that makes the defense cover the entire field of play, which can create opportunities in both the run & passing games. But in order to run this particular version of the spread offense effectively, you first need an outstanding Dual-Threat QB like 6'2, 228-pound Shawn Robinson. The Horned Frogs attack utilizes almost all of the running backs that they dress on game day, as they want fresh legs and speed on the field at all times. Browsing through TCU's roster, I even found a running back as small as 5'5, 148 pounds in Sophomore Jason D'Armore and many other key components to the TCU offense that helped the Horned Frogs become the best program in the state of Texas.

The two recruits above were deemed 3-star recruits by 247 sports and so was College Football Today's top recruit Daimarqua Foster. All three players have produced off the chart numbers that prove they are much better football players than their 5-star counterparts. Foster has rushed for 4,290 yards on only 385 carries (11.1 avg) and now has 68 total touchdowns after his record breaking performance last season. On the contrary, 247 Sports top running back recruit Trey Sanders out of IMG Academy has 101 total yards rushing (3 games) behind an offensive line chalk full of big time recruits. When I look back at the class of 2015 wide receiver rankings by 247 sports, I see that KaVontae Turpin received the same treatment by the mainstream recruiting media. I guess 5'7, 157lbs is not worthy of anything above a 3-star rating, yet his production on the field and blazing speed will probably get him drafted into the NFL. There are so many different styles of college offensive and defensive schemes that when you combine each individual coaches overall philosophy, it is impossible for media outlets like 247, Rivals or ESPN to even come close to gauging the actual potential of a college football recruit. This style of recruiting has become similar to the hype surrounding the NFL draft and is used to generate revenue for big corporations like everything in America today.

Other PLayers For THE Horned Frogs WHo HAVe Defied The Mainstream Football Recruiting MEdia and the hype.

Most high school athletes do not know what type of scheme that they fit in at the next level. They are often told they are too small or not big enough to play at the FBS level or at all. There are still many coaches like Coach Gary Patterson and staff that value overall football players, academics and character before they trust an online source. Their knowledge of the game of football is light-years ahead of many in the industry because they had to build a program into a house that can withstand any storm. Each student-athlete should not be worried about how many offers they can accumulate, because that is how these networks are one-dimensionally ranking recruits. Instead, they should be learning the game of college football and preparing for the next level in all areas needed to not only land the offer you need, but excel for four years once you get on campus. As Coach Prunty stated in the radio interview attached at the top of the page, "you have to be seen... that's why companies pay for billboards". I see now that he was 100% correct, as the athletes that have the most exposure get to surpass a more superior recruit, whom nobody knows about.